Building Sustainable Organizations

Why’s everyone fixing the future – and not the present?

Whenever people, businesses, countries are unhappy with the present situation, they start talking about the future. They are developing future visions, (currently it’s the Vision 2022), some “stretch goal” that would inform them what to do now. Isn’t that great. Like I if I were unhappy with my weight and set the vision of myself with 10 pounds less in 2022. When do you think I start rethinking my diet :)??

The future is the result of actions we are taking now. Don‘t ask your imagined future what to do now – ask the actual present.

Vision is great when you are starting a business, or need a new future, or if you are in the space industry. But for fixing most of current problems, you don’t need to envision and fix the future. Rather take an honest look at the tension between the perceived now and the desired now.

When I ask my clients to “dream,” create a bright, desired picture of their organization five years from now, they talk about what they would actually love to happen now. To think about the world in five years and what the company should look like then is way too complex.

Here are some quick guiding questions:

Sensing the present: What is happening now? What works well and what not?

Envisioning a great now: What is a different/better/desired new now?

Taking action: What can we change immediately? What can we stop or start now? And what do we want to continue?